Zero Times Zero Is Still
by Not-a-fanatic-just-a-fan
Summary: When you add zero to zero, you get zero. A man is adding zero's. Now he wants to add one more. But zero times zero is still... Toru and the gang are faced with a new challenge, one that could cause their world as they know it to be changed forever. It will either end very good or very very bad. T for safety.
1. Chapter 1 When you see something

**I'm a fan of this manga series and was a little sad that there isn't more fanfiction for it. So I decided to write my own! I apologize for spelling and grammer mistakes. Correction is greatly appreciated. This is my first fanfiction ever so tips and suggestions and even criticism is appreciated. I don't know how well I will update. Reviews might motivate me a little bit. Just sayin'.**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned this I think I would probably have Harumi Tokita confess his feelings to Asaki Yuki already. Just sayin'.**

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Chapter 1

When you see something

Mizushima sat in his usual spot, in the back of the classroom, quietly reading from his school book. It was a free study period and he was doing a fantastic job at ignoring his classmates and in turn being ignored. Kuga and Tokita, even though they shared his class, respected his 'minimal exposure' policy and during class had little to do with him. Although Tokita wouldn't have minded it one bit if they continued to do so out of class. They were in a small group of other students, studying sometimes, but mainly just chatting.

A few classrooms over, the other half of the group were in the middle of a particularly boring lecture in history. Sasamori tried diligently to pay close attention and take many notes but the teachers soporific abilities were getting to even her. Yuki had given up 15 minutes into the lecture and was idly doodling on the edges of her notebook. She was typically a good student but when it came to this particular teacher, Yuki had admitted defeat near the beginning of the year. Shinozuka had never bothered from the very beginning of the year, giving the same care to this teacher that he gave to all. That is, none. Not that he was a bad student. His style of learning however worked best one-on-one or individual study. Classroom lectures weren't his thing.

He was currently staring out the window, his desk conveniently right next to it in the back, allowing him the privacy to ignore the teacher without being caught.

The day was a happy one, the sun intent on being extra cheerful as it gazed through the windows at the suffering students. Honestly, there wasn't much to look at. Shinozuka had pretty much memorized the view of the school yard from this vantage point. At this particular time, it seemed like activity had come to a halt.

'I speak too soon', Shinozuka perked up as he saw a black car pull up just outside the school gates. 'An outside visitor? Maybe some lucky soul's parents have come to help him escape the penitentiary called Mandatory Education.'

With barely open eyes, he watched as the driver's door opened and a man in a dark suit and sunglasses stepped out, looking through the gates at the empty yard. He had slicked back hair and incredibly shiny shoes. Every part of him looked sharp and Shinozuka had an inkling that he spent a lot of time making sure every part of him stayed that way, from the crease in his suit pants to the fierce glare he gave through his glasses.

He continued to stare into the yard, not moving. He looked like a statue he kept so still. Shinozuka was impressed. The excitement level rose as the Principal and an administrator came out in the yard and walked toward him.

'So he was expected,' Shinozuka thought. The Principal was talking happily and gestured for the man to come in as the administrator went to open the gate. The man shook his head, causing the light reflected on his glasses to shift briefly. He said something back which seemed to startle both the Principal and the administrator. Shinozuka's curiosity was growing as the situation continued to develop.

The man said something again, his expression remaining sharp but blank. The Principal talked back for a while, Shinozuka well aware of the man's long-winded abilities. The Principal finished his monologue with a glance at the administrator and a nod.

At that exact instance Shinozuka froze, his eyes wide. The teacher never broke, oblivious to his student in the back.

At the exact moment that the principal nodded, confirming whatever the man had said, eight horribly familiar butterflies appeared and flittered deceptively harmlessly from the man in the suit towards the school building. Shinozuka could only watch, stunned, as they broke of, two flittering to the floor above him, three to some class room on the same floor as him, and the remaining three…

Shinozuka jumped up, his chair falling backwards on the floor with a loud clatter. The teacher broke off from his lecture, annoyed at the disturbance. The rest of the class had turned to look at him in surprise. Shinozuka was staring with eyes wide in fear, his breathing loud as he felt his heart pound against his ribcage with the rush of adrenaline that coursed through his veins.

"Is there a problem, Shinozuka?" The teacher glared at him, a displeased frown on his face. The class stared back at him as his own eyes swept the classroom landing on Sasamori and Yuki who were staring at him in concern.

"I- I just-" he tried to stammer out. He took a deep breath, willing his heart to calm down. "Sorry, Sensei. I just saw something surprising is all."

Sasamori gasped loudly. The teacher raised an eyebrow at her before turning back to Shinozuka. "Be that as it may, that gives you no reason to disrupt the flow of knowledge that happens here. Now sit-"

"I need to use the restroom."

The teacher blinked. "Excuse me?"

Shinozuka forced his body to appear relaxed as he asked again, "I need to go to the restroom. May I be excused?"

The teacher glared at him, suspecting falsehood.

"Please? It's urgent. Life or death." This time, Yuki was the one who gasped at him.

The teacher huffed. "Fine. But be back quickly."

Shinozuka was out the door before he could even finish his sentence. He forced himself to continue to walk at his usual easy going pace but once he was past the sight of the class he broke into a run. He didn't slow down until he skidded to a stop in front of another classroom door. He was breathing hard, more from the adrenaline than the short run. A few deep breaths in an attempt to calm his respiratory system before he opened the door a little bit and peaked through.

Mizushima's class was thankfully preoccupied with socializing or studying to notice him. Shinozuka eyes widened at what he saw. 'No…' Determined now, he glared hard at Mizushima until the latter felt the piercing stare and glanced up at the source. He looked surprised to see Shinozuka in the middle of class. Or maybe it was the expression he was giving him. Mizushima's own expression darkened as he realized the implications of the whole situation. In a way that could only have been done by one who has spent the majority of his life perfecting the skill, Mizushima somehow managed to get up and walk to the door, slipping out silently, without a single person noticing.

"What happened?" Mizushima cut straight to the chase, glancing up and down the hallway in case anyone appeared.

"I was in class and Sakura-Sensei was lecturing and I wasn't paying attention, just looking out the window and I was thinking that it was really boring because nothing was happening but then I thought to my self, 'I spoke too soon' because then a black car pulled up and parked in front of the gate and -"

"Hijiri" Mizushima cut him off. "What _happened_?" He repeated again, with a look.

"Butterflies" He summed up. Mizushima's eyes widened.

"Butterflies? As in, more than one?"

Shinozuka's face was grave as he nodded. "I counted 8."

"Wha-" Mizushima said softly. He looked at Shinozuka.

"2 flew up to the floor above us. The other 6 separated in 2 groups. 3 in my classroom, and 3…"

"In my classroom." Mizushima finished for him. They stood in silence for a minute, Mizushima deep in thought. Finally he spoke up.

"The three in my class…"

Shinozuka nodded. "I didn't know till I looked in but I had a feeling. Nananase, Harumi, and…"

"And me." He finished again. "And your class?"

"Me," he glanced at his own arm where the butterfly had landed. It looked almost pretty in an extremely morbid way. "Asaki and…" He glanced back up at Mizushima who had an unreadable expression. "Koyuki."

The silence stretched on. Mizushima was perfectly still, darkness shadowing his face, making it difficult for Shinozuka to see his expression.

"Who?"

Shinozuka raised his eyebrow at the question. "What do you mean 'who'?"

"The man in the black car."

Shinozuka shook his head. "I don't know who he was-"

"No not him."

"What?" He was now thoroughly confused.

"Who did the man talk to? Who came to the gate. The Principal?"

Surprised, but at the same time, comforted at the proof of Mizushima still being able to do his magic. Knowing that Mizushima was on it comforted Shinozuka far more than he realized.

"Yeah. He was also with an administrator. I think she works at the attendance. Short black hair, usually half-up with a small flower clip holding it in."

Mizushima nodded and turned back to the room he had just exited. "You should get back to class, Hijiri. Sakura-Sensei will get suspicious if you don't return soon."

"What are you going to do?" He asked.

"It's study period, so I'm going to finish my work,"

Sensing that it wasn't the end, Shinozuka prompted, "And then?"

"And then I think I need to check on my school attendance record." He slipped back into the room, leaving Shinozuka alone in the hallway.

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 **And that is the first chapter. Short but hopefully exciting. I was pretty excited when I wrote it. Now I just have to work on a second chapter. Hmm... I should have thought this through better. Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2 Iris Assemble

_Super short chapter. Kind of boring. I will do better next week or so. I will have more time then. For now, appetizers!_

 **Disclaimer:** _I want to write a famous series and then write fan fiction about it and then in the disclaimer, claim it as mine. Bwahahahahaha._

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Chapter 2

Iris Assemble

The students were milling about, talking, laughing and in general enjoying their rosy high school life. It was the dream. The setting of any good shoujo manga. There was a particular group of students, however, that was not enjoying the usual relaxing free time.

Sasamori, Yuki, and Kuga were all sitting on near each other on the roof, clutching their bentos but not paying them any attention. Tokita was leaning against the fence, his arms folded and a scowl on his face. Shinozuka was standing in front of them, the center of all their attention at the moment. The roof was mostly empty, only a few students enjoying their break up there, none within earshot.

"So, what's going on?" Yuki spoke first. "Back in the classroom, you saw something and then rushed out. You said it was life and death." She looked down at her bento, a grim expression on her face. "And I didn't see a tail."

"And then you called out Mizushima-san in the middle of class." Kuga added. "When he came back, his wing color was very anxious. Scared almost."

Everyone looked expectantly at Shinozuka, waiting anxiously for his explanation.

He cleared his throat, suddenly slightly nervous. He wasn't exactly sure why. "I will explain." He began. "In order for you to understand the situation, you need to understand something about me." He glanced at Sasamori, the only other one present who knew his secret. "My iris."

Kuga and Yuki both raised their eyebrows. They didn't expect him to reveal his iris. Not that all iris' were secret. In fact, most weren't. But Shinozuka had never so much as alluded to his iris before and no one had asked. It wouldn't have been polite.

"My iris is rather morbid actually. I used to hate it. It caused me a lot of… grief when I was younger." Sasamori looked down sadly, recalling all he had told her about his past and his iris. "I see butterflies."

"…"

Yuki was the one who broke the silence. "…What's special about these… butterflies?" She asked, trying to not look utterly confused.

Shinozuka looked at her, a dark expression in his eyes. "The butterflies gather around things—people, animals, plants—when they are close to death."

The shocked silence seemed to weigh in the air, stifling. Everyone was staring at Shinozuka with wide eyes as pieces seemed to fit together by themselves. Even Tokita had dropped his relaxed posture leaning nonchalantly against the fence and was standing stiff, his hands clenched tightly in fists.

"Who?" He growled, his eyes narrowed angrily.

Shinozuka couldn't help but see the similarities between Tokita's and Mizushima's reactions. "Who did you see the butterflies on?"

He looked sadly at his angry friend. "You." All three girls gasped and looked at Tokita who looked shocked as well. "Yuki-chan." He went on, ignoring the gasps and wide-eyed looks. "Kuga-chan. Sasamori-chan. Me." He glanced at his arm where the butterfly was still hanging gently, it's wings gently fluttering in the wind. He wondered for a brief second if the butterflies where affected by actual things, like wind. He knew he couldn't touch them. He had tried.

"And Toru-kun." Sasamori's gasp was very audible, her bento clattering to the ground, forgotten as she clasped her hands to her mouth. "There were two other butterflies. I didn't see where they went but I have a guess." His eyes glanced around the rooftop at the rest of the students chattered away, completely oblivious to the drama unfolding not 5 meters away from them.

Yuki's silent 'no' spoke volumes. No one could speak. The silence was immense. Sasamori was the one who broke the silence. "Mizushima-kun." Everyone looked to her and noticed that she was looking in the direction of the door to the roof. Indeed, Mizushima was in fact walking towards all of them, his usual calm expression on his face, his gait smooth and unhurried.

He came up to the group and sat down next to where Tokita was standing in shock, gaping at him with his mouth open. He opened his bento and with a quick 'itadakimasu' and took a bite of his food.

He continued for a few bites until he glanced up at his companions. Everyone was staring at him, the tension that had been filling the air gone at his nonchalance and complete lack of reading the situation.

"What?" He asked. Tokita responded by smacking him on the back of his head.

"What do you mean, 'what?'!?" He shouted, ignoring Mizushima's exclamation of pain and surprise. "You know perfectly well what's going on, and you have the gall to come up here and act as if you know nothing, like everything's all 'hunky-dory'?!"

"That's not it at all!" Mizushima yelled back, his hand still massaging the place Tokita had hit him. "It's lunch time, I don't have much time left and I'm hungry. It's natural to want to eat something isn't it?"

"Read the atmosphere, idiot! This isn't the time!"

"This _is_ the time, four-eyes! It's literally time for lunch!"

The rest of the group gave some nervous gestures, in an attempt to calm the pair down but were completely ignored. A loud snap was heard and the pair halted mid-sentence and looked over at Yuki who was now holding a pair of broken chopsticks in her hand, her face smiling but not showing any humor at all.

"I would suggest both of you calm down," She said in a eerily calm voice. "You are scaring Koyuki-chan." The subject did seem scared, all though the look of terror was more directed at her female friend than the shouting pair. The two did cease their arguments but purposefully looked the opposite directions of each other, a scowl on their faces.

"Now." She said, looking serious. "Let's get back to the matter at hand." She looked back at Shinozuka.

"Yes." He nodded as the attention turned back towards him. He looked over at Mizushima. I told them what I saw."

Mizushima nodded as well. "I figured as much. I would have preferred to keep things quiet until I figured more things out but I guess it couldn't be helped." He took another bite of his bento. Tokita raised his arm again in annoyance but Mizushima quickly stopped him. "Look, lunch break is almost over and I really am hungry. Never mind the atmosphere, a person has got to eat." He glared at Tokita who glared back. "You all should eat too." He looked over at the rest of the group. "The bell is about to ring. Besides," He went back to his lunch. "This isn't the place to have this kind of conversation." They all looked around and noticed that several people were looking at the group and the intense air around them. Realizing how much attention they were drawing to themselves, they quickly picked up their own bentos and put on cheery dispositions, conversing as though there wasn't a care in the world. If anyone had looked a little more closely, they would have seen the strain on everyone's faces, obviously trying hard to keep the smile on their face. They would have heard the high pitched, almost maniacal laughter coming from them, the way that everyone gripped their bentos a little too hard. Yuki, having no eating utensils, and Sasamori, having dropped her bento happily shared each others, Kuga lending some of her own as well. The not so subtle glances to each other went unnoticed by the rest of the students on the rooftop, having gone back to their own meaningless conversations. Thus, lunch ended, the bell bringing a much needed relief from the group, who practically ran back to class, as inconspicuously as they could.

"Mizushima." Tokita stopped the boy in question before he turned off the staircase and towards his classroom. "If anything happens, I will hold you responsible." Mizushima simply looked at the other boy, standing somewhat dramatically on the staircase, other students laughing and talking as they headed back to class.

"Yeah." Mizushima agreed and turned away. Nothing more needed to be said.

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As the last bell rang, signaling the end of a school day, a huge rush of students filled the corridors and front entryway, going to clubs or practices or just going home. A particular group of students was gathered in one of the empty club classrooms.

"Koyuki-chan is taking care of some last minute student council stuff." Yuki explained as she dropped her bag at her feet and hopped up on a desk, allowing her feet to swing. "Normally I would say that we should help her get out of it but I think she realizes. She'll be here soon." Tokita and Kuga already there, waiting nervously, in Kuga's case, and angrily with arms folded in Tokita's case. The door slid open and Mizushima entered. He glanced at the occupants and made his way over to them, leaning against a desk and staring out the window.

"I'll wait till everyone is here." He said without looking away, cutting off Tokita who had opened his mouth to say something. He shut it and glared at him. He 'humphed' and settled back, simmering in anger. Yuki and Kuga chatted for a while, about nothing in particular. After a few minutes, the door opened again and Sasamori entered, Shinozuka close behind.

"Sorry for the wait." Sasamori bowed briefly in apology. "I got away as soon as I could."

They joined the group. Everyone turned and looked at Mizushima expectantly. He thought how funny it was that he spent most of his life doing everything he could to avoid attention and here he was at the center of it and wasn't feeling anxious at all.

"Are you going to explain what exactly is going on?" Tokita growled.

Mizushima glanced at him. "I said I'll wait till everyone got here."

"Who-" His query was cut off as the door opened yet again revealing Hoshimiya and Sakura, the newest members of the group.

"You two too?" Kuga asked sadly, already knowing the answer.

"I asked Hijiri to bring them in as it directly affects them as well." Mizushima explained.

"He already told us about his Iris." Hoshimiya gestured to Shinozuka who stood with his usual happy-go-lucky smile.

"Now that we are all assembled, I will explain." Mizushima grabbed everyone's attention once more. He glanced over everyone's expression. Most were nervous, some determined, and in one case, calm and even smiling. Mizushima wondered briefly if that was Shinozuka's natural state.

Cutting straight to the chase, he began. "Just before lunch today Hijiri saw a man come to the school gate. He talked with the principal and Ito-Sensei, the one that works in attendance. The talked for a while and just before they left, Hijiri saw the Principal nod his head. The minute he did, Hijiri saw 8 butterflies, signaling someone is near death. We each have a butterfly on us." He glanced at Shinozuka who nodded in agreement. "Meaning that whatever was discussed between them was the trigger for all of our eventual deaths. I asked Ito-Sensei about it. She said his name was Himura Itsuki."

"I've never heard that name before." Hoshimiya said, frowning.

Mizushima nodded. "Not surprising. He's actually just an employee for a much more well known man. I searched on the internet. He's listed as working for a man named Kurosawa Tomiichi."

"Now that name I've heard." Hoshimiya said.

"I haven't." Yuki half raised her hand. "Who is he?"

"He's a business man. Known for being very traditional. He actually owns several businesses. Himura is his personal assistant."

"But what's the assistant of a very rich business man doing here? What does he want?" Tokita was the one who asked this time.

"I asked Ito-Sensei. She said he had come to confirm if there was actually an Iris Zero enrolled."

"…" This was met by silence.

"You mean-" Sasamori began.

Mizushima nodded. "Yeah. They're looking for me."

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 _Again, sorry it's short. This one was kind of hard to write. Kind of boring honestly. The beginning is always boring to me because you have to set everything up and explain things and blah-de-blah. But I promise that it will get better. When I can think of more. I mainly tried to get this out so I can be done with it. Move it along a little bit. I will probably take about the same amount of time to write the next one. I'm a slacker. Not super busy but family is in town. The review actually did in fact motivate me to write. Now, if I was able to write this much with ONE review, think how much I can write with MORE reviews! *Wink wink, hint hint*_


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